Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., signed copies of her best-selling memoir at the Charles Hotel on Monday, drawing a crowd of more than 1,000 autograph seekers from throughout greater Boston to Harvard Square.

Clinton’s fans began congregating outside the hotel in the early morning. By noon, when signing began, a dense line of people—cradling copies of Clinton’s book under their arms—wound among the six American flags in the hotel plaza, through the marble pillars inscribed with the words of John F. Kennedy ’40 and along the row of windows where hotel guests huffed and perspired over exercise equipment.

At a makeshift counter erected near the street, a cluster of visitors clamored for the last blue admission slips—the only way to get past metal detectors and Secret Service agents and into the auditorium where the former first lady was wielding a pen and, by all accounts, a warm smile.

Clinton’s book Living History has sold more than 1 million copies since sales began on June 9. The tremendous surge of popularity that its publication brought her was evident in Cambridge Monday—autograph seekers offered the senator effusive praise as their arms encircled Clinton’s face, emblazoned in elegant black and white on the memoir’s dust jacket.

“I think what she has done in the White House and afterwards is admirable,” said Boston resident Becky Schneck, toting her signed copy of Living History, which she had not finished reading, under one arm. “As a career woman myself, I admire her.”

In spite of the long wait in line—the most die-hard fans had been waiting for nearly five hours—most autograph seekers were thrilled by the opportunity to meet Clinton.

“It was a lot of fun. She’s a very charismatic, beautiful woman,” said Cambridge native Robyn Ward as she wandered back into the sunlight clutching a signed copy of the memoir. “She made eye contact. She made it very personable, even though it went quickly. I love her to death, and I hope she runs for office.”

With the possibility of a 2008 presidential campaign looming on the horizon, attending the junior senator’s signing was a strong political statement for some.

“I support Democrats. I support Hillary because she’s a Democrat,” said Patricia Hawkins, a Belmont social worker who said she appreciated the senator’s stance on health care and welfare.

For others waiting in line, coming face to face with the former first lady was nothing new.

“In November 2000, I was at the Grand Hyatt hotel in New York to watch her elected as senator and I’ve enjoyed continuing to see her career blossom,” said Benjamin B. Bolger, a student at the Graduate School of Design and teaching

fellow at the College. He has been crossing paths with Clinton since working in the White House Press Office eight years ago.

Citing the “breadth and depth” of Clinton’s knowledge, Bolger said the senator’s memoir offered a unique perspective on her experience as a politician, wife and mother.

“I think that the book helps to define the difference between a public career and a private life,” he said.

Despite beginning to loop her name across Living History’s first pages a bit behind schedule, Clinton and her attending entourage met the line of visitors so efficiently that she was able to sign more copies of the memoir than she—or Wordsworth Books, which was sponsoring the event and unloading hundreds of copies of the book at a makeshift checkout stand outside the hotel—had planned. Clinton originally agreed to sign 800 books, but the actual number exceeded that, according to a Wordsworth employee.